If you qualify for Europe for next year, you’ll find it easier to sign these guys, and of course with the TV and ticket revenue, you’ll have the money to pay them, as well.Everything I’ve described so far is for clubs, not countries. The second one to know about is the , which is the same deal as the FA Cup but only for the Premier League and the three Football League divisions, so a total of 92 teams.The semifinals of the League Cup are played in two legs (collectively called a “tie”), one at each stadium, total goals win. The pyramid is basically a meritocracy; while, from a commercial perspective, the Premier League should be the 20 “biggest” teams in the country, you do have teams like Leeds with 20-30,000 crowds in lower leagues, and (until this season) teams like Wigan, with sub 10,000 crowds, in the EPL.It’s possible (although highly unrealistic) for you and your friends to form a football team, and over the course of 20-30 years have it rise into the Premier League!Typically, big teams rise to the top, and smaller teams sink, driven largely by financial muscle; the bigger your gate and merchandising revenue, the bigger transfer and wages you can command, and the more appealing you are to a prospective player. In all three Football League levels, the top two teams get automatically promoted, while the next four have a playoff to determine which one goes up. This is the kind of thing I want to help folks understand in my introduction to English soccer. Americans insist on a “regular season” follow by “playoffs.” The English, and pretty much everybody else in the world, do it another way: Everybody in the league plays everybody else in the league, home and away. It happens that during my travels in 2018, I saw the second leg of each semifinal. This is a vicious circle in the sense that the best teams have a stranglehold on the cash, therefore the best players, therefore the success… so there tends to be league domination in most of the world’s leagues; it was 1985 since someone other than Rangers or Celtic won the Scottish league.In this sense, the American franchise model is actually better; the idea of the player “draft” with a handicapping system, and a limit on marquee players is a good way of leveling the playing field and making each season genuinely interesting where every team has a shot. AUSYSA stresses the team first in all of their competitions. This used to be called the First Division, but the allure of TV money and marketing power created a “re-branding” back in the early 90s.The Premier League, with 20 teams, is really the top of a massive , and the best way I can explain it is through analogy: imagine if every professional baseball team in America was an independent entity. That’s more or less what English football looks like.A major difference between English football and every sport in America is how they determine the champion. PDPs are focused around the National Premier Leagues (NPL/ECNL) and other top leagues in specific geographic areas.PDP invitations are based upon objective scouting of elite clubs and leagues, combined with recommendations from top Directors of Coaching. No US Club league available to play in.2005 Academy Boys - play in both USYSA (BPYSL) and US Club (pre-ECNL matches). And the process continues until the national team. The top level of the Football League is called The Championship, with 24 teams. Each level normally consists of fees which cover coaching, fields, games, and/or camps.US Club soccer uses two types of player identification - Player Development Programs (PDP) and id2. The dream of a “Giant Killing” and the legendary status that brings with it.It’s a shame the magic seems to be slowly dying though. USYSA is comprised of 55 state associations which all have input at the national level. But the truly great game of my tour was the second leg of Sunderland vs. Manchester United. Boys and girls then register to play with one of the 6,000+ clubs or leagues formed by their State Association.US Club is a National organization where registration is run at the National level and online. Some PDPs also include off-field educational components, as well.Established in 2004, US Club Soccer’s id2 National Identification and Development Program provides an opportunity for the country’s elite youth soccer players to be identified and developed, and scouted for inclusion in U.S. Soccer’s National Team programs.2003-99/00 ECNL Girls - only play in US Club/ECNL because enough competitive games2004-99/00 ECNL Boys - play league and some events in US Club/ECNL, but also play in a few cross over events that accept both USYSA and US Club teams.2003-99/00 Academy Girls - play in both as they attend ECNL events and play in USYS State Cup/Ohio-South State League2006 Academy Girls - play in USYS only - Play in Ohio-South State League and State Cup. There is not a mandatory US Club (ECNL) league for 2005, but there are some clubs that want to participate and matches are set up. Check out our Find a Club feature, and you’ll see one of three tags describing the club’s level: Recreational. Levels 7 and Below . The seventh tier is made up of – brace yourselves – the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the Southern Football League Premier Division, and the Isthmian League Premier Division.The eighth tier has six leagues – three sets of pairs that feed, through promotion and relegation, to the three leagues in the 7th tier.And … right there I will quit trying. US Club has developed Players First, a branded, holistic club soccer experience for parents and players, which emphasizes the development of each individual to his or her full potential, and helps parents make better choices about where their children should play.For Ohio Elite, we participate in both USYSA and US Club. MLS doesn’t have the single-table format and schedule everybody else uses, and there’s no promotion and relegation. In other words, if the Memphis Redbirds were, instead of the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, a completely independent team that’s been playing in Memphis for more than 100 years. League Play.